Learning from traffic jams
January 19th, 2009 |Seth Godin over at his excellent marketing blog posted about traffic jams resulting out of an accident on the other side of the road. We all know that. I think there’s something very important to learn out of those traffic jams, especially for marketers. A traffic jam caused by rubberneckers is, essentially:
People giving up some comfort and away their attention
Think about it: If you want to go from A to B, usually you want to do that as fast as possible. You try not to stop, or slow down. Now there’s that car accident / cop writing a ticket / screaming crazy person on the other side of the street and, suddenly, going as fast as possible isn’t that important anymore. You have to have a look. And as a marketer, sometimes that’s exactly what you want.
But why is this?
It’s all about relevance. I learned that a couple years ago when I was into journalism: Which news are important to people? The answer: The closer to the reader, the more interesting. The farther away from the reader, the bigger it’s gotta be (“closer/farther” work in terms of time, space, emotions and so on, and they all add up). What moves you more?
- in 2007 africa had 3.2 million aids infections (big, very far away)
- a co-worker was diagnosed HIV positive (small, very close)
- 37 people died in a plane crash in the middle of the pacific (big, far away)
- a former schoolmate of yours dies ina car accident (small, very close)
You get the idea.
The marketing lesson: Be relevant.
If your marketing efforts do not work, then maybe they are irrelevant to your customers.